Ok, I am a newbie but with some skills. I bought a 1993 Accord with the f22a6 manual trans. The guy who sold it to me said the head gasket was gone. When you turn the key it starts right away and runs quite well but within 5-6 seconds heavy white smoke starts coming out of the tailpipe and does not either dissipate easily nor decrease as the engine warms up. The engine runs quite well and idles smooth and revs smooth despite the heavy smoke. Initial inspection of the oil and coolant showed that both looked fine. No contamination of either evident. I mustered the courage to try my first ever head gasket change. The old gasket looked a little tired but there were no obvious breaks or cracks. The surface of the block and head both 'looked' to be in great mating shape too. I changed the head gasket following all procedures laid out on the dealer service manual torquing the bolts to spec. I refilled the rad, turned the key, and it started almost immediately...and...starting smoking just as it had before. I took a chance and it did not pay off? Is it a cracked head or block? I did a compression test on the cylinders and they were all 190-205 psi. The plugs looked carbon-black even though they had just been cleaned previously. The tailpipe itself has a gunky blackish residue inside and very obvious water. The water was spraying out the pipe when running. Have i misdiagnosed something here? I am looking for answers other than a cracked head/block or faulty gasket install. Maybe I should have overtorqued the head bolts?....Changed the oil? When I restarted it after changing the gasket, I noticed smoke coming not only from the tailpipe but also from the catalytic itself....could it be full of coolant from the previous leak??? Should I drill a hole to drain it? The car is destined to be for racing so the catalytic is coming off anyway. I am confused seeing as the oil is not mucky and the engine runs quite well.

 

Wow: I wouldn't drill the Cat. This is "unreal". I think there could be a little residue from the leak, but was the smoke the same, worse better? Let us know.

 

dude change the oil first of all...the plugs too...disconnect the cat and drive around for a hour or so and see if it smokes when ur done....i cracked a ring land and oil was pouring in my exhaust....now that i have another motor in it stil smokes and gets real heavy when im in high rpm's!

 

ok, plan for tomorrow is new plugs, new oil, flush rad and refill, clean residue from tailpipe, remove catalytic...thanks for the help so far guys...I'll update in a couple of days!

 

biggest mistake you made is NOT to have the Head checked if it was warped and have it milled...and or have it checked for possible cracks .....Also ...Do a cylinder leakage test ....

 

Sadly enough there is no one in town who does this anymore...I'd have to send it away...I know I should have though...taking shortcuts. I honestly wasn't too concerned with the possibility of an aluminum being warped to badly to be reused on the same deck but what do I know?

 

I would run it for awhile and see what happens you may get lucky. Way back when I worked in a little garage and would install rebuilt motors that would smoke like crazy and drip water out the tail pipe. The rebuilding shop would say it will seal and always did by letting it idle and keeping an eye on the temp. These were the older head gasket types not the all metal Honda uses but you got good compression so that is hopeful and the exhaust will smoke for awhile but not bury you in smoke. When my 1995 Accord head gasket failed everything was fine but if you left the radiator cap off and stated it water would jump out. Look for excessive bubbling in the radiator and if you have to take it all apart again get the head checked for warpage and a valve job is a good investment. It is pretty standard that the head is warped on these.

 

Ok, finally an update. I had food poisoning so I could do anything all week. Ok, I changed the oil and filter...the old oil looked fine albeit a little dirty. Inspected the coolant...aok. Changed the plugs....old ones were carbony black. Attempted to disconnect the cat but those bolts were rusted solid...I still may just cut it off...remember I don't need it as this car is destined for the track. Compression all 190-205 psi.
After all this, I turned the key and of course it fired up perfectly and started to smoke within seconds. Really seems more like a grey than a white smoke. There is quite the condensation spraying out the tailpipe still. I pulled the rad cap before i started it and there was no bubbles at all while running. The smoke was very very heavy and really pissed off the neighbours...it hung around forever too. i let it run for 10 minutes and there was no change at all in the level of smoke. Ran good though! What can I rule out and what is still on the table here? Valve seals? Bad valve? Piston ring? Something stupid? What else can I do from the comfort of my own garage? I am thinking maybe while this could have been originally a head gasket, maybe now it is something entirely different? ideas?

 

Carbony black plugs?
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_su...d.asp?mode=nml

Sounds like its running rich. Check the vacuum hose for the FPR, there should NOT be any fuel in there. If there is, the FPR is bad.

 

perfect...I am working 16 hours today and tomorrow....I will check the FPR first thing Monday morn